


Sleep Alone

by kkderp



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-01
Updated: 2014-02-01
Packaged: 2018-01-10 19:45:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1163730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kkderp/pseuds/kkderp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Derek slips into Stiles's bedroom from the window, he's normally sleeping.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleep Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the Two Door Cinema Club song of the same name.

When Derek slips into Stiles’s bedroom from the window, he doesn’t have the intention to stare at him in a creepy stalker Twilight-like way. He tends to want information, but Stiles is normally sleeping. So he sits at the desk and tries to research on his own but no matter how many times Stiles tells him the password he always forgets, and since Lydia is the only one who knows ancient Latin he can’t exactly get information from the bestiary.

So he sits there. His eyes tend to track back towards Stiles, because even though he’s sarcastic and energetic while awake, he couldn’t look more peaceful. Derek knows he’s been plagued with nightmares for months and they never seem to go away, but he can never get himself to wake Stiles up.

One night he climbs up a little after midnight to see Stiles shaking violently in bed, fingers clutching the top of the comforter, and his face twisted in pain. Derek moves forward before he realizes what he’s doing and places a hand on Stiles’s, shaking him more than he’s shaking himself and yelling his name as loud as he can without waking the sheriff up. And when that doesn’t seem to work, he sits Stiles up and pulls in behind him with his back to the headboard and Stiles’s back against his chest. His breathing slowly slows down, in and out, and Derek can finally breathe again when Stiles stills against him.

He always leaves before Stiles wakes up, slipping out quieter than he slipped in.

It’s not the same kind of pain. Losing your entire family is different than whatever Stiles is going through, but it’s pain nonetheless. There’s one day after school when Stiles’s jeep won’t start and even though his father thinks he should trade it in because it’s old and keeps failing him, he won’t give up on her, and Derek pulls over into the parking lot and offers a hand.

Stiles watches him before begrudgingly giving in and they quickly fix the issue and Stiles is back to staring at him. 

“Thanks.”

Derek nods, even though it’s not necessary. “I know you’re still having trouble with the nightmares,” he says, because even though he can’t shut the door to Stiles’s mind, he can at least add some light to the room. “If you ever need anything, I’ll help.”

It’s seemingly uncharacteristic of Derek, but after a long pause, Stiles nods. Once, twice, three times and he opens the creaking door of his car and turns on the ignition. His fingers twist around the wheel and Derek watches until he pulls away.

Weeks later, when Derek’s sitting amidst maps and textbooks and his coffee has gone cold next to him, his phone rings against the wood of the table.

He answers it quickly.

“I can’t sleep.”

Derek pulls the phone away from his ear and sees 2:57 in the corner of the screen and presses it back up against his face. “I’ll be there soon.” He ends the call.

When he walks up to the Stilinski house, he doesn’t have to climb in through the window. Stiles is standing at the front door with his arms crossed over his chest and he leads Derek up the stares, the sheriff’s breathing echoing off the silence.

Stiles sits at the edge of his bed and Derek watches him until he walks forward and places his hand on Stiles’s as they rest in his lap. When Derek pulls away, Stiles stands and slips under the covers faster than his heart is beating and after a moment Derek sits down next to him, legs and chest under the covers and back against the headboard. 

It takes a while for Stiles to fall asleep, but it’s faster than it has been lately.

When he wakes up, Derek isn’t gone but next to him, arms crossed over his chest and his head bent down forward in sleep. His eyes are sewn shut and Stiles can’t help but thinks he looks peaceful. Still on guard and ready, but nevertheless okay.

He slips quietly out of under the covers and sits down at his desk, picking silently at the keys as he researches. And if he glances over at Derek a couple times, it’s not to stare at him in a creepy stalker Twilight-like way. He just doesn’t want to forget the image. He wants to frame it in his mind.

As he thinks about it, he realizes that Derek needed this as much as he did. That even though they’ve both experienced different kinds of pain in their lives, they both hurt. And even if their mutual agreement of friendship, or whatever this is, is over pain, Stiles knows it will last and that Derek will be there. Because he stayed.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this is or where it came from. Un-beta'd. Thanks for reading :).


End file.
